Calling all IJN Takao-class (高雄型) fans

[Dan K]

I'm familiar with that pic in MS#4. Keep in mind that this book is approx. 30 years old and that new information keeps surfacing all the time. I may not be right; I'm just reporting the current drift of thought and am trying to bring it up for everybody's consideration.

Sometimes , our assumptions need to be challenged. For instance, pics of Takao postwar in Singapore show her without a degaussing cable while still retaining all of her armament. The same seems to be true for Myoko. And, back in Japan, sunken Tone does not have a cable. Tone was operational until sunk, even if Takao and Myoko weren't. What should we make of that, if anything?

[chuck]

Tone was guard ship at Eta Jima. I am not sure if a guard ship would have been maintained at fully operational condition.

Did the US not use magnetic mines?

Or were the Japanese ship running into a electric generation capacity crunch? Japanese ships tended to have relatively low electrical generating capacity with comparatively little in reserve after serving the ship's normal hotel and armament needs, and that must have been increasingly strained through the war with addition of new electronic equipment.

[J. Soca]

You really know your stuff Dan , you could be right about that, Tone stayed anchored inland she had all the time in the world to be refitted as many times as the Japanese wanted. On the other hand Takao and Myoko never had the chance of going back to Japan. Its unlikely the Japanese removed the D-cables at Singapore then my guess would be D- cables were removed around mid 44 or earlier 44 on both of these cruisers and its possible the same thing happened to the remaining heavies. thanks for those shots

[Dan K]

Chuck raised good questions, which prompted a look thru the Reports of the US Technical Mission to Japan at the war's end (online at: http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/primary_ ... MJ_toc.htm

and specifically, the report on degaussing (which is long, complicated and gives me the same headache I used to get in high school physics class) at: http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/primary_ ... 20S-37.pdf

Incidentally, the report mentions that the Japanese were not certain that the US was using magnetic mines until 1944.

Basically, the IJN used a simplified system, which they realized was ineffective, officially abandoning it in early 1944 and turning to minesweeping as a more effective defense (the US Technical mission agreed with that assessment). Which brings us back to the question of whether or not the cables were present on many IJN ships by mid to late 1944.

This report, and available photos, suggest that many ships were stripped of their cables. However, clearly not all were. So, it comes down to photographic & circumstantial evidence on a ship by ship basis.

Given the lack of clear evidence, Maya might well have retained the cable. But given the timing and the trend towards removal, I tend to think not. The good thing is, Jose, no one can say for certain.

[Jose Soca]

Jose, did you use the PE set supplied by Aoshima?

Hi Chuck

No it's not Aoshima's ,I've been using WEM's Takao P.E set all this time with the exception of the LionRoar 25mm AA guns, Veteran's type 89 and the brass barrels which are from Voyager. HTH

[chuck]

Jose:

Another question. I have the 1942 Takao. On my kit the hull side had two rolls of little depressions to represent hull side scuttles. I notice on your Maya, the hull side scuttles are blanked off. Did you blank these off or did the Maya kit came with hull side scuttles already blanked off?

[J. Soca]

Jose:

Another question. I have the 1942 Takao. On my kit the hull side had two rolls of little depressions to represent hull side scuttles. I notice on your Maya, the hull side scuttles are blanked off. Did you blank these off or did the Maya kit came with hull side scuttles already blanked off?

I added sealed caps to make it look like the portholes were shut Chuck, when I got the kit both sides were blank there was nothing there, as I started doing some research on Maya�s hull and even though I don�t see any side portholes above the bulge on Takao in her 1944 refit on Skulski�s AOTS, the ship did have them before prewar refit or even before her last refit ,I dont know if I'm making myself understood now I think I�d leave this one to Dan , I do tell you this portholes weren�t sealed and were visible in 1939. Every 1944 refitted Maya model I�ve checked have those portholes shut . I�m looking at some Tian jie Maya�s pictures Hermill emailed once and guess what, same thing here I can see those portholes although I can�t make to see if they are sealed with caps damn!

[chuck]

I think they were welded shut and covered with round plate as well. In battle having glass portholes close to waterline would be a disaster waiting to happen. I was just curious if Aoshima had two separate molds, one with glass portholes, and one with blanked off portholes. But it seems they had just one.

[Dan K]

I think it safe to assume that a late war Maya would have had a majority of her scuttles sealed. Using the AOTS Takao as a guide seems a safe bet. FWIW.

[Jimmy Conway]

See new book for Takao here.....


http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=KG16002

KG16002.jpg (21.15 KiB) Viewed 5301 times

[Frank Portela]

Thanks to Kym Knight's warnings, I've abandoned trying to purchase the Lion Roar set (no main deck railings!), so I've ordered the WEM Takao P.E. set, and I'm wondering if I should purchase a barrel set, possibly the Fukuya set. Has anyone any suggetions?

Frank

[Dan K]

I bought the Fukuya set for Chokai. Looks very good to me.

[Kym Knight]

Thanks to Kym Knight's warnings, I've abandoned trying to purchase the Lion Roar set (no main deck railings!)

Frank,
The LionRoar set has the main deck railings but has nothing marked on the instructions for the upper decks. But I did find that if your very careful and don't wreck any while doing the main deck, there is just enough to get by to add some to the upper areas.

[Elvis965]

Can the existing 1/350 Takao PE sets be used for the Chokai as well?

There is an Aoshima 1/350 Chokai with the new tooling at my LHS that is calling me.....

Bob

[Dan K]

I think so. I have the new Chokai sitting in my closest with the Aoshima specific PE, but also just received my GMM Takao and Takao Plus frets last night. Great frets. Everything looks like it will work. Most of the fittings were generic enough across all 4 ships. For instance, the turret top grab bars, or the funnel grab bars and platforms are essentiallly the same for all for sisters.

[Elvis965]

Thanks Dan.

I knew I should have just PM'd you in the first place!

Bob

[Dan K]

As I've said before, you've done a really outstanding job on her.

[chuck]

Does anyone know of any sources where I might be able to get 3 bladed metal screws appropriate sized for 1/350 Takao?

[J. Soca]

Does anyone know of any sources where I might be able to get 3 bladed metal screws appropriate sized for 1/350 Takao?

Chuck I tried to send you a PM but I couldn't , send me one I think I can help you on this one.

[johndon]

Excellent work Jose, can I ask how you did the 'ropes' that are hanging down the hull from the railings?

I want to represent the same on my Yukikaze build and I can't find a satisfactory way of doing it, thread just doesn't 'hang' correctly as it doesn't have the necessary weight and I can't get thin wire to look natural.

John